Gosford Park (2001)

Drama Rated R

Director Robert Altman’s scathing, somewhat sterile look at the English aristocracy circa 1932, all filtered through the conventions of a murder mystery. As a collection of ladies and gentlemen gather for a hunting party on a lavish country estate, we follow them and their maids, valets and footmen through a weekend of pomp and circumstance

Woodsman, The (2004)

Drama Rated R

The Woodsman humanizes an inhuman problem – that of pedophilia – thanks mainly to a coiled performance by Kevin Bacon. As a convicted child molester just released from prison, Bacon taps into his character’s sickness and self-hatred with such intensity that he elicits something you would think impossible: sympathy.

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)

Comedy Rated R

A stoner comedy with a clear-headed sense of wit, this follows a pair of pot-loving roommates who spend an evening chasing sliders. Korean-American Harold (John Cho) and Indian-American Kumar (Kal Penn) have both a genial camaraderie and a subversive minority status, which turns this mindless pot trip into a new declaration of American independence. George

XXX: State of the Union (2005)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

Just as 2002’s XXX took aim at the extreme sports-loving, Mountain Dew-chugging teen demographic, so does this sequel patronize a stereotyped target market, making it little more than a cheap product cynically manufactured to pluck specific dollars. In tapping Ice Cube as the new secret agent and finding a supporting role for rapper turned Pimp

Hollywood Ending (2002)

Comedy Rated PG-13

A spoof of the auteur theory – the idea that a movie’s director is its primary author – by Woody Allen, one of America’s true auteurs. Here Allen writes, directs and stars as a once-lauded, two-time Oscar-winner who gets a chance to make a comeback when his ex-wife (Tea Leoni) convinces her studio-head husband (Treat

Insomnia (2002)

Thriller Rated R

Insomnia would be a perfect police noir except that it’s missing one crucial element: the night. Set in northern Alaska, where the midnight sun keeps the darkness at bay, this smart crime thriller stars Al Pacino as a Los Angeles police detective called north to track down a suspected murderer (Robin Williams). Considering this is

In the Cut (2003)

Thriller Rated R

“…may not be pure Campion, but it’s also the sort of movie only Campion could have made.”

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

Amazing visuals are put in service of an increasingly convoluted story in this computer-animated adaptation of the popular video game in which a futuristic scientist leads a last stand against invading aliens. The human characters are astonishingly realistic – it’s the spiritual/scientific mumbo jumbo coming out of their mouths that rings false.

Layer Cake (2004)

Drama Rated R

A slick gangster wants to make a few more big bucks and then get out of the game, but his boss has other ideas. Sound familiar? It’s all too familiar in this British import, despite a high-strung lead performance from Daniel Craig. Director Matthew Vaughn furiously tries to develop his own style here, but it

Last King of Scotland, The (2006)

Drama Rated R

Forest Whitaker plays Idi Amin, the Ugandan dictator whose reign of paranoia and murder haunted the country for most of the 1970s, yet The Last King of Scotland isn’t exactly a biopic. Based on Giles Foden’s novel, the movie depicts Amin through the fictional eyes of a Scottish doctor (James McAvoy) who travels to Africa